Investigational Blood Test For HPV-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer Outperformed Current Testing Methods In Direct Comparison Involving Patient Blood Samples

MedPage Today (5/28, Bankhead) reports researchers found that “an investigational blood test for human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancer significantly outperformed current testing methods in a direct comparison involving patient blood samples.” Researchers found, “based on whole-genome sequencing (WGS), the investigational test detected circulating tumor (ct)DNA with a sensitivity and specificity of 98.7% as compared with 94.2% sensitivity and 98.6% specificity for single-plex droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), 90.6% and 96.3% for multiplex ddPCR, and 86.4% and 96.3% for HPV antibody testing.” Meanwhile, “for diagnostic accuracy, HPV WGS demonstrated statistically significant superiority versus ddPCR (0.99 vs 0.90), HPV antibody testing (0.83), and clinical workup (0.82).” The data also indicated that “among men ages 55-74, the group with the highest incidence of HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer, the so-called DeepSeek WGS had the lowest number needed to screen...to detect a single positive result.” The findings were published in Clinical Cancer Research.